Posts tagged ‘lease sales’

Alaska wants to update decades-old seismic surveys of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to boost exploration. But in a twist, some officials feel that ignorance in this case may be better for the state’s coffers.

Alaska officials hope to jump-start exploration in ANWR with $10 million in “seed money” toward the cost of a 3-D seismic program to gather new information on oil and gas prospects.

Last week, the Obama administration drew the ire of environmentalists when it revealed early plans to open some of the mid and south Atlantic Ocean to oil and gas drilling.

The plan exposes the Eastern Seaboard “to the hazards of offshore drilling,” said Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a sentiment largely shared by most environmentalists and several congressional Democrats.

But despite the possible inclusion of drilling off the US East Coast in the administration’s next five-year plan for offshore oil and gas leasing, the reviews from the fossil fuel industry were far more negative.